Started cleaning out my office

So I started cleaning out my office today. It’s sort of strange eliminating items that have been with me since I started with the company 27 years ago. Okay, so I am a pack rat. What’s it to you?  I have two directives that I placed on myself. First is that I want to have the office cleaned out for the next person. Secondly, I want to bring home as few things as possible.

This set of demands makes the job that much harder, but strangely, it prepares me for the cutting I will do on things I already have at home.  There is a movement towards minimizing. Having only the things around us that we absolutely need to continue.  To that end, I am pretty much chucking most everything in the office in preparation for leaving.

I was surprised to see many of the notebooks that I used when I first started. I am an avid note taker, and I believe that an engineering notebook is heart and soul of being able to keep up with a project. This includes those items where a decision is made, or conversely un-decided (I.e., a bad idea) and that helps to keep you honest with yourself.  It also is a neat place to keep actions that you need to accomplish.